Survey Methodologist

What does a Survey Methodologist do?

Survey Methodologists are Designers of surveys. That sounds simple enough: They ask a few questions, collect a few answers, tally the results, then call it a day. Right?

Actually, there’s a lot more to it than that. Because they’re scientific instruments, the best surveys aren’t thrown together haphazardly. They’re carefully designed in order to maximize accuracy and efficacy.

To produce a survey that’s both reliable and informative, you must choose the correct type of survey. Are you going to conduct a cross-sectional survey, for instance – which measures the opinions of a population at a single point in time – or a longitudinal survey, which analyzes changes in the opinions of a population over time?

You must also choose the correct survey methods and tools. For example, who will you survey? Will you do a written or verbal survey? And will you conduct the survey in person, over the phone, or online?

The challenges you face as a Survey Methodologist don’t stop there, either. You’ve also got to find out how to get a representative and randomized sample, as well as how to ask questions that get good answers (vocabulary, question format, and response methods all can impact survey data).

Ultimately, you’re a Scientist who designs experiments; instead of the objective natural world, however, you’re analyzing the subjective world of human opinion!